The Federal Government recently announced that they are offering the provinces $46.1 billion in healthcare funding over the next 10 years.

Dr. Robert Kitchen, MP for Souris-Moose Mountain, commented that the provinces, including Saskatchewan, will have to take a look at what those offers are as they move forward and where they go from there.

He stated, "We've been waiting eight years for this government to do something, and they've doubled the national debt. This government has record-breaking spending, you know, and there's more debt incurred by this one government in eight years than every previous Prime Minister combined, put together."

"We have Canadians that are so desperate for more healthcare funding and the Prime Minister turns around and basically says, sorry, we can't do more on healthcare because we're broke, and the Prime Minister spent all this money and now he's coming around to make a proposal to the provinces." 

Kitchen noted that his understanding was that the provinces were asking for an annual increase of $28 billion in funding. 

"What I can tell you is that there's been $875 million that was delegated for mental health that is not being spent and it was not spent in 2022," he added, "So they're talking about all this money to get people to say that, hey, look at the great stuff we're doing."

Kitchen went on to say that there's been no transparency and no concrete action on improving the healthcare file.

"You know, my constituents are saying the same thing, how do I get to see a doctor? That's what they're concerned about. How do I get tests that I need to get done, done?"

Kitchen stated that those are challenges, which the provincial government will deal with. He added that his leader has come out and said quite clearly that they will honor what commitments have been made to transfer funds to the provinces.